Weekend Hikes in the City

Every weekend our hikes around the city center lead us to a new discovery. I’m just amazed at the number of unoccupied buildings in this city. Two weekends ago we found a spider-infested house in a neighborhood we have walked a thousand times. Inside the house, the calendar was last turned to September 2007. A family portrait lays facing upward in the corner of a bedroom. Bedding remains in the large cabinet, perhaps a few stray cats have rested there over the years, escaping a harsh winter night. A Porcelain Virgin Mary presides of the skeletal remains of the cat. In my hobby, I get used to seeing cats and rodents in various states of decay and mummification.

These photos I present are a small sample size of what is to be discovered in Gwangju. These former houses wait in obscurity for the significant demolition. More neighborhoods are being cleared now for state-of-the-art apartment complexes and sleek shopping complexes. Eventually, these houses will meet their fate like the houses in this neighborhood below.